LSA theme semester asks questions about life

By Maryanne GeorgeLSA Communications

What makes life worth living? Is it something as simple as a sunrise or as grand as a symphony orchestra? This question has been central to philosophical, religious and political thought for millennia, and engagement with it is part of the foundation of education in the liberal arts.

This fall the LSA theme semester “What Makes Life Worth Living?” will invite students and community members to explore this question and the answers offered over the centuries and around the globe.

Because students’ college experiences often shape the trajectories of their lives, the theme semester encourages them to take advantage of U-M’s rich resources to explore questions fundamental to their individual and collective lives:
• What is the good life?
• What makes life meaningful?
• How can one achieve a fulfilling balance between career, personal life and the obligations of citizenship?

The semester will offer courses, lectures, films and activities for all U-M students to connect with the theme and integrate their academic work with co-curricular activities and off-campus experiences.

It has been organized by John Chamberlin, professor of political science in LSA, professor of public policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, and director of the Center for Ethics in Public Life; and Christopher Peterson, professor of psychology in LSA and director of the Michigan Positive Psychology Center.

“This theme semester offers students a chance to explore this question within the rich intellectual and cultural environment of the university,” says Terrence McDonald, LSA dean. “Students can explore historical, political and cultural perspectives and hear from leading psychologists, social activists and academic leaders who have examined this question.”

Students can submit essays, poems, videos and other contributions to a competition for reflections on the theme question. Students also can display their answers to the theme question on a special What Makes Life Worth Living? T-shirt.

“The theme semester offers students a chance to consider how their years at U-M will promote meaningfulness and well-being in their own lives and the lives of others,” Chamberlin says.

• The Katz-Newcomb Lecture by Dacher Keltner at 4 p.m. Oct. 28 at the Campus Inn will examine the evolution of compassion.

• John Hammock, co-author of “Practical Idealists: Changing the World and Getting Paid,” will discuss how to combine personal values with a career at 7 p.m. Nov. 9 in Room 100 at the Hatcher Library.

• Sister Helen Prejean, author of “Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States,” will discuss her work at 7 p.m. Dec. 2 in Blau Auditorium at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business.

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